In the country’s first such action against American shipping interests on the high seas, the captain of a German cruiser orders the destruction of the William P. Frye, an American merchant ship.

The William P. Frye, a four-masted steel barque built in Bath, Maine, in 1901 and named for the well-known Maine senator William Pierce Frye (1830-1911), was on its way to England with a cargo of wheat. On January 27, it was intercepted by a German cruiser in the South Atlantic Ocean off the Brazilian coast and ordered to jettison its cargo as contraband. When the American ship’s crew failed to fulfill these orders completely by the next day, the German captain ordered the destruction of the ship.

As the first American merchant vessel lost to Germany’s aggression during the Great War, the William P. Frye incident sparked the indignation of many in the United States. The German government’s apology and admission of the attack as a mistake did little to assuage Americans’ anger, which increased exponentially when German forces torpedoed and sank the British-owned ocean liner Lusitania on May 7, 1915, killing more than 1,000 people, including 128 Americans. The U.S., under President Woodrow Wilson, demanded reparations and an end to German attacks on all unarmed passenger and merchant ships. Despite Germany’s initial assurances to that end, the attacks continued.

In early February 1917, when Germany announced a return to unrestricted submarine warfare, the U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with the country. By the end of March, Germany had sunk several more passenger ships with Americans aboard and Wilson went before Congress to ask for a declaration of war on April 2, which was made four days later. The first American ships arrived in Europe within a week, marking a decisive end to U.S. neutrality.
www.historychannel.com_________________Met hart en ziel
De enige echte

Hospital Ship Britannic Survivors Say Propellers Killed 45 Men
Several survivors of the hospital ship Britannic, which was sunk in the
Aegean Sea, were among the crew of the Adriatic, which arrived here
yesterday, and were positive that she was torpedoed by a German
submarine and not mined, as stated in the English newspapers.

They also said that forty-five members of the crew were drowned or
killed by the propellers through the engines being put full speed ahead
after she was hit in an endeavor to beach the ship in shallow water.

A. W. Breed, second steward on the Adriatic, held a similar position on
the White Star liner Arabic when she was torpedoed in August, 1915, and
also on the Britannic a few weeks ago. He said that he preferred the
Aegean Sea because it was so much warmer to swim in.

86. Mr. MURRAY MACDONALD asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether steel helmets are supplied to every member of the special constabulary force within the Metropolitan area; whether the existing supply is kept at the headquarters of each district; 1313 whether members of the force, when summoned during an air raid, have to make their way from their homes to their headquarters exposed to risks often as great as those to which they are exposed when actually on their stations; and, seeing that it is the duty of the Government to protect them, so far as possible, from these risks by providing helmets, will lie see that every member of the force is so provided with a helmet which he may take to his own home?

Sir G. CAVE A supply of helmets is kept at each police station for the use of such members of the regular and special constabulary and air raid relief parties as may be sent out when the guns are firing or likely to fire. Helmets are not issued to the regular or special police as part of their general equipment, and the circumstances would not justify such a general issue.

Mr. MACDONALD Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that these men are exposed to serious risks when summoned on the occasion of an air raid in going from their homes to the headquarters?

Sir G. CAVE No doubt that is a statement of fact, but the men have warning some time before the raid occurs.

Mr. STANTON asked the President of the Board of Education if his Department will make provision for the training of our wounded or disabled soldiers as school teachers in such cases where the men would care to enter the profession, seeing that such teachers would help to inspire our schoolboys with a greater love of their country and a truer sense of citizenship and loyalty throughout the Empire?

Mr. HERBERT FISHER Provision is already being made in some cases for the admission of disabled soldiers to courses of training for the teaching profession. The Board are considering what further arrangements should be made for the purpose.

If it is your true will that we should, on this far-reaching moment together with the soon to-be-formed Workers' General Council, take the decisive step in adopting the duties of country's revolutionary government, so will we fulfil these duties with all our strength feeling no faltering. Now as the distress of the proletariat is so horrible that for being saved from it, a toiling comrade takes a rifle to carry it on his shoulder and at the time when thirst for social freedom is so enormous that to reach it he even defies death, so it is the solemn duty of every man in the workers' movement whenever so needed, to exert all his strength for the freedom of the toiling class up to the very end. But if it is your will, dear comrades, to appoint other men to take care of the duties of the revolutionary government, just say it any time through the meetings of our own organizations, and each one of us will leave the reins to whom you ever command.

We are social democrats. So you know our agenda. It is a socialist agenda.

We believe that the workers of Finland will win their enemy in the present revolutionary battle, how hard the forthcoming fights might ever be. Through sacrifices much is won, for the present and for the future generations. Not only the gloomy dangers will by this be warded off but also important prerequisites for future improvement of life are then won.

We see that now we have to go on in changing the whole political system in Finland, with courageous and well-considered measures. The system of civil servants must be now crushed so that it will never take the master's role over the people. A complete end must be brought to the despotism practised by courts of justice. The whole form of government have to be established on a guaranteed democratic basis, in conformity with the interests of the working class. Taxes and burdens must be moved from the shoulders of the underdog to those of rich exploiters. An insurance for the old and disabled must be put into practise even before the actual insurance bill is passed. The leadership of popular education must be purged of reactionaries. Crofters and cottage dwellers must immediately be set free from the dominance of land owners. Bank capital must be place under social control and by these measures it will be possible to keep tight reins on industrial and commercial capital. The property owned by the proletariat should not be touched but on sectors where the common distress of the people clearly requires nationalization of big exploiters' production plants, their ownership should step aside.

This way, day by day, week by week, we have to go on without stopping on the road of socialist revolution. During the period of revolution revolutionary rules set by revolutionary authorities are the ones to be followed in taking care of matters and they will be effectuated by the people itself, through its own organizations.

The bourgeois government of Finland stepped, impudently, onto the road of a reactionary coup d'etat. Now, the working class of Finland will, in its turn, use its revolutionary right to promote social progress.

The bourgeoisie wanted "a strong authority to maintain order", they wanted it to support their own aspirations for power. Well, be it a strong order maintaining force but now to give protection for the underdog, for the oppressed!

This is where we stand. It is only our deeds that will tell what we will accomplish. We, as well as you, have not started a revolution to play games. We are led by the deep conviction that there is no other redemption for the working people of Finland, and whatever is needed should be sacrificed for it.

To put it simply, it is yourselves, dear revolutionary working comrades, whose roles are the most important, who decide how big the achievements will be. No delegation will be able to carry out a real change in state of affairs. Only the people itself through its large organizations will be able to do that.

Strength and unity is now needed! Great sacrifices and tirelessness! The victory of the working class in Finland will now depend on these.

Coeducation at the College of William and Mary was once again a topic for debate in late January 1919 - this time on the campus itself. A debate took place between the College's literary societies on the topic of coeducation, discussing the reasonings behind it and the impact of women attending classes with men. Though not members of the literary societies, the women students were invited to attend the debate. Janet Coleman Kimbrough opted not to go, but remembered in an interview in the 1970s the attitudes on coeducation and controversy the event created:

"There was a certain resentment [toward coeducation] among the alumni and there were a lot of the students -- it would not have been fashionable for them to say that they approved of coeducation, but they weren't at all unfriendly to the girls. But it was fashionable to feel that this was a man's world and that William and Mary was a man's college, and they were possibly a little condescending in their attitude toward us, but as I remember, the students who were actually in college were very friendly.

Her construction was ordered on 29 March 1912 and her keel was laid down on 8 November 1912 by Germaniawerft of Kiel. She was launched on 28 January 1914 and commissioned on 3 September 1914 under the command of Edgar Spiegel von und zu Peckelsheim.

The Coast Guard as established 28 January 1915, shall be a military service and a branch of the armed forces of the United States at all times. The Coast Guard shall be a service in the Department of Homeland Security, except when operating as a service in the Navy.

On 28 January 1915 British observers identified a large column of Turkish troops on the central route across the Sinai. British and French ships entered the canal and opened fire, while defensive positions were manned by infantry. Patrols clashed on 2 February, but a sandstorm halted any further action until next day.

THE MOST USEFUL THING that a civilian can do in these busy days is to speak as little as possible, and, if he feels moved to write, to confine his efforts to his cheque-book. But this is an exception to that very good rule. We do not know the present strength of our New Armies. Even if we did, it would not be necessary to make it public.

We may assume that there are now several battalions in Great Britain which did not exist at the end of last July, and some of these battalions are in London. Nor is it any part of our national scheme of things to explain how far they are prepared for the work ahead of them. They were quite rightly born in silence, but that is no reason why they should walk in silence for the rest of their lives. At present, unfortunately, most of them are obliged to walk in silence, or to no better accompaniment than whistles, concertinas, and other meritorious but inadequate instruments of music which they provide for themselves.

In the beginning this did not matter so much. There were more urgent needs to be met; but now that the New Armies are what they are, those who cannot assist them by joining their ranks, owe it to them to provide them with more worthy music for their help, and comfort, and honour. I am not a musician, so if I speak as a barbarian forgive me. From the lowest point of view, a few drums and fifes in a battalion are worth five extra miles on a route-march—quite apart from the fact that they swing the battalion back to quarters composed and happy in its mind no matter how wet and tired its body may be. And even where there is no route-marching, the mere come-and-go, the roll and flourish of the drums and fifes round barracks is as warming and cheering as the sight of a fire in a room.

Or a band, not necessarily a full band, but a band of a few brasses and wood winds is immensely valuable in districts where troops are billeted. It revives memories; it quickens associations; it opens and unites the hearts of men more surely than any other appeal. In that respect it assists recruiting perhaps more than any other agency. The tunes that it employs and the words that go with them may seem very far removed from heroism or devotion; but the magic and the compelling power are there to make men's souls realise certain truths which their minds might doubt.

More than that. No one—not even the Adjutant—can say for certain where the soul of a battalion lives; but the expression of that soul is most often found in the Band. It stands to reason that a body of twelve hundred men whose lives are pledged to each other's keeping must have some common means of expressing their thoughts and moods to themselves and to their world. The Band can feel the mood and interpret the thought. A wise and sympathetic bandmaster—and most that I have known have been that—can lift a battalion out of depression, cheer its sickness, and steady and recall it to itself in times of almost unendurable strain. You will remember a beautiful poem by Sir Henry Newbolt describing how a squadron of `weary big Dragoons' were led on to renewed effort by the strains of a penny whistle and a child's drum taken from a toyshop in a wrecked French town. And I remember in a cholera camp in India, where the men were suffering very badly, the Band of the 10th Lincolns started a Regimental sing-song one night with that queer defiant tune, `The Lincolnshire Poacher.'

You know the words. It was merely their Regimental march, which the men had heard a thousand times. There was nothing in it except—except all England all the East Coast—all the fun and daring and horseplay of young men bucketing about the big pastures by moonlight. But, as it was given, very softly, at that bad time in that terrible camp of death, it was the one thing in the world which could have restored—as it did—shaken men to pride, humour, and self control. This is, perhaps, as extreme case, but by no means an exceptional one. A man who has had any experience of the Service can testify that a battalion is better for music at every turn—happier, easier to handle, and with greater zest for its daily routine if that routine is sweetened by melody and rhythm, melody for the mind and rhythm for the body.

Our New Armies, as we know, have not been well served in this essential. Of all the admirable qualities they have shown none is more wonderful than the spirit which has carried them through the laborious and distasteful groundwork of their calling without a note of music except what that same indomitable spirit supplied—out of its own head. We have all seen them marching through the country or through London streets in absolute silence, and the crowd through which they pass as silent as themselves for lack of the one medium that could convey and glorify the thoughts which are in all men's minds today.

We are a tongue-tied breed at the best. The Band can declare on our behalf, without shame or shyness, something of what we feel, and so help us to reach a hand towards the men who have risen up to save us.

In the beginning, as I have said, the elementary needs of the Armies over-rode every other consideration; but now we can get to work on other essentials. The War Office has authorised the formation of bands for some of the London Battalions, and we may hope to see that permission presently extended throughout Great Britain. Of course we must not cherish unbridled musical ambition, because a full band means forty pieces, and on that establishment we should require even now a very large number of bandsmen. But I think it might be possible to provide drums and fifes for every battalion, fife bands at depots, and a proportion of battalion bands at half or even one-third establishment. But this is not a matter to be settled by laymen. It must be seriously discussed between bandsmen and musicians present, past, and dug-up—who may be trusted to give their services with enthusiasm.

We have had many proofs in the last six months that people only want to be told what the New Armies require, and it will be freely and gladly given. The Army needs music—its own music, for, more than any calling, soldiers do not live by bread alone. From time immemorial the man who offers his life for his land has been compassed at every turn of his services by elaborate ceremonial and observance, of which music is no small part—carefully designed to prepare and uphold him. It is not expedient nor seemly that any portion of that ritual should be slurred or omitted now.

President Woodrow Wilson, explaining why he objected to the political and literacy clauses in the proposed Immigration Act (28th January, 1915)

Restrictions like these, adopted earlier in our history as a Nation, would very materially have altered the course and cooled the humane ardors of our politics. The right of political asylum has brought to this country many a man of noble character and elevated purpose who was marked as an outlaw in his own less fortunate land.

The literacy test and the tests and restrictions which accompany it constitute an even more radical change in the policy of the Nation. Hitherto we have generously kept our doors open to all who were not unfitted by reason of disease or incapacity for self-support or such personal records and antecedents as were likely to make them a menace to our peace and order or to the wholesome and essential relationships of life. In this bill it is proposed to turn away from tests of character and of quality and impose tests which exclude and restrict, the the new tests here embodied are not tests of quality or of character or of personal fitness, but tests of opportunity. Those who come seeking opportunity are not to be admitted unless they have already had one of the chief of the opportunities they seek, the opportunity of education. The object of such restriction, not selection.

Again I must leave you and the children-my home, my little nest - and I feel so sad and dejected, but do not want to show it. God grant that we may not be parted for long - I hope to return on the 8th of February. Do not grieve and do not worry! Knowing you well, I am afraid that you will ponder over what Misha told us to-day, and that this question will torment you in my absence. Please let it alone!

My joy, my Sunny, my adorable little Wify, I love you and long for you terribly!

Only when I see the soldiers and sailors do I succeed in forgetting you for a few moments - if it is possible! With regard to the other questions, I am going away this time with greater peace of mind, because I have unlimited confidence in Sturm.

In December 1915 Montague was judged to be too old to be in the front-line. Montague appealed against this decision and on 28th January 1916 had to appear before the Army Medical Board.

I went in and found the Colonel-Surgeon, who barred me a month ago on the ground of my age, again presiding. He looked up at me genially, when I came to the table, and said, "So I hear you want to have another whack of the Germans". I admitted that I did. "How old are you - I mean, your real age?" "Forty-nine, Sir", said I, "but only just". "Sure you're fit?" I said yes. Another doctor at the table said something about my having been there before. "Yes, yes", said the Colonel, "I remember him perfectly. Well, Sergeant, all right", and he marked me a big 'A' on his report. I grinned and saluted and made off. He called after me as I was making for the door, "Sergeant, I believe you'll do better up there than some of the young uns".

The WCTU was also active in Manitoba, where women's suffrage had first been proposed in 1870 by the Icelandic community. Among Manitoba's early leaders were Mrs M.J. Benedictssen, Mrs A.V. Thomas, Dr Amelia Yeomans and Mrs J.A. McClung. McClung's daughter-in-law, Nellie MCCLUNG, later became the Prairie movement's dominant figure. Between 1912 and 1915 there was a sharp, concerted campaign. Then on 28 January 1916 Manitoba women became the first in Canada to win the rights to vote and to hold provincial office. They were followed by Saskatchewan on March 14 and Alberta on April 19. BC approved women's suffrage on 5 April 1917, and Ontario suffragists, after many years of struggle, celebrated their hard-won victory on April 12.

President Woodrow Wilson nominates Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court on this day in 1916. After a bitterly contested confirmation, Brandeis became the first Jewish judge on the Supreme Court.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Brandeis quickly earned a reputation in Boston as the people's attorney for taking on cases pro bono. Brandeis advocated progressive legal reform to combat the social and economic ills caused in America by industrialization. He met Woodrow Wilson, who was impressed by Brandeis' efforts to hold business and political leaders accountable to the public, during Wilson's 1912 campaign against Theodore Roosevelt. Brandeis' early legal achievements included the establishment of savings-bank life insurance in Massachusetts and securing minimum wages for women workers. He also devised what became known as the Brandeis Brief, an appellate report that analyzed cases on economic and social evidence rather than relying solely on legal precedents.

Brandeis emerged as the nation's foremost judicial leader in an age of growing American industrial power and helped articulate Wilson's New Freedom political platform. Wilson and Brandeis shared liberal views on economic and social policy and also agreed that the federal government should take a hands off approach to managing the economy. New Freedom policies encouraged the cultivation of healthy economic competition, rather than the government spending time and money trying to control monopolies. In contrast, Wilson's opponent, Roosevelt, urged the dismantling and direct regulation of monopolies.

Upon Wilson's ascension to the presidency, he looked to appoint men to the federal court who were not influenced by the big interests and had the superior rights of the public in mind. Brandeis accepted President Wilson's appointment to the Supreme Court in 1916. His high-court rulings on the Bill of Rights and privacy law reflected his progressive politics. Although he and fellow justice Oliver Wendell Holmes were frequently the lone dissenters from the court's majority during the increasingly conservative 1920s and 1930s, Brandeis' colleagues later touted him as the greatest legal craftsman of his era.

American forces are recalled from Mexico after nearly 11 months of fruitless searching for Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, who was accused of leading a bloody raid against Columbus, New Mexico.

In 1914, following the resignation of Mexican leader Victoriano Huerta, Pancho Villa and his former revolutionary ally Venustiano Carranza battled each other in a struggle for succession. By the end of 1915, Villa had been driven north into the mountains, and the U.S. government recognized General Carranza as the president of Mexico.

In January 1916, to protest President Woodrow Wilson's support for Carranza, Villa executed 16 U.S. citizens at Santa Isabel in northern Mexico. Then, on March 9, 1916, Villa led a band of several hundred guerrillas across the border and raided the town of Columbus, killing 17 Americans. U.S. troops pursued the Mexicans, killing 50 on U.S. soil and 70 more in Mexico.

On March 15, under orders from President Wilson, U.S. Brigadier General John J. Pershing launched a punitive expedition into Mexico to capture Villa dead or alive. For the next 11 months, Pershing, like Carranza, failed to capture the elusive revolutionary and Mexican resentment over the U.S. intrusion into their territory led to a diplomatic crisis. On June 21, the crisis escalated into violence when Mexican government troops attacked Pershing's forces at Carrizal, Mexico, leaving 17 Americans killed or wounded, and 38 Mexicans dead. In late January 1917, having failed in their mission to capture Villa and under pressure from the Mexican government, the Americans were ordered home.

Villa continued his guerrilla activities in northern Mexico until Adolfo de la Huerta took power over the government and drafted a reformist constitution. Villa entered into an amicable agreement with Huerta and agreed to retire from politics. In 1920, the government pardoned Villa, but three years later he was assassinated at Parral.

Shortly after the development of the Scout Experimental 5, the improved S.E.5a was introduced. When it entered the war in 1917, it was superior to all its German opponents. Many pilots preferred it to the Sopwith Camel. It was easier to fly, it performed better at high altitude and its in-line engine produced less noise. It was also faster than the Sopwith Camel, allowing a pilot to break off combat at will. Disdained by Albert Ball, in the hands of airmen like William Bishop and Edward Mannock, the S.E.5a developed a reputation as a formidable fighter. With 54 victories, South African Anthony Beauchamp Proctor downed more enemy aircraft with this plane than any other ace.
[Read more]

The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 was a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. Although the first examples reached the Western Front before the Sopwith Camel and it had a much better overall performance, problems with its Hispano-Suiza engine meant that there was a chronic shortage of S.E.5s until well into 1918 and fewer squadrons were equipped with the type than with the Sopwith fighter. Together with the Camel, the S.E.5 was instrumental in regaining allied air superiority in mid-1917 and maintaining this for the rest of the war, ensuring there was no repetition of "Bloody April" 1917 when losses in the Royal Flying Corps were much heavier than in the Luftstreitkräfte.

The S.E.5 (Scout Experimental 5) was designed by Henry P. Folland, J. Kenworthy and Major Frank W. Goodden of the Royal Aircraft Factory in Farnborough. It was built around the new 150 hp (112 kW) Hispano-Suiza 8a V8 engine which while it provided excellent performance, was initially under-developed and unreliable. The first of three prototypes flew on 22 November 1916. The first two prototypes were lost in crashes (the first killing one of its designers, Major F. W. Goodden on 28 January 1917) due to a weakness in their wing design. The third prototype underwent modification before production commenced; the S.E.5 was known in service as an exceptionally strong aircraft which could be dived at very high speed so these changes were certainly effective.

Like the other significant Royal Aircraft Factory aircraft of the war (B.E.2, F.E.2 and R.E.8) the S.E.5 was inherently stable, making it an excellent gunnery platform but it was also quite manoeverable. It was one of the fastest aircraft of the war at 138 mph (222 km/h), equal at least in speed to the SPAD S.XIII and faster than any standard German type of the period. The S.E.5 was not as effective in a dog fight as the Camel as it was less agile but it was easier and safer to fly, particularly for novice pilots.

The S.E.5 had one synchronised .303-in Vickers machine gun to the Camel's two. It also had a wing-mounted Lewis gun on a Foster mounting, which enabled the pilot to fire at an enemy aircraft from below as well as forward. This was much appreciated by the pilots of the first S.E.5 squadrons as the new "C.C." synchronising gear for the Vickers was unreliable at first. The Vickers gun was mounted on the left side of the fuselage with the breech inside the cockpit. The cockpit was set amidships, making it difficult to see over the long front fuselage, but otherwise visibility was good. Perhaps its greatest advantage over the Camel was its superior performance at altitude – so that (unlike most Allied fighters) it was not outclassed by the Fokker D.VII when that fighter arrived at the front.

Only 77 original S.E.5 aircraft were built before production settled on the improved S.E.5a. The S.E.5a differed from late production examples of the S.E.5 only in the type of engine installed - a geared 200 hp Hispano-Suiza 8b, often turning a large clockwise-rotation four bladed propeller replacing the 150 hp model. In total 5,265 S.E.5s were built by six manufacturers: Austin Motors (1,650), Air Navigation and Engineering Company (560), Curtiss (1), Martinsyde (258), the Royal Aircraft Factory (200), Vickers (2,164) and Wolseley Motor Company (431).[2] A few were converted as two-seat trainers and there were plans for Curtiss to build 1,000 S.E.5s in the United States but only one was completed before the end of the war. At first airframe construction outstripped the very limited supply of French-built Hispano-Suiza engines and squadrons earmarked to receive the new fighter had to soldier on with Airco DH 5s and Nieuport 24s until early 1918.

The introduction of the 200 hp (149 kW) Wolseley Viper, a high-compression version of the Hispano-Suiza made under licence by the Wolseley Motor Company, solved the S.E.5a's engine problems and was adopted as the standard powerplant.

About 38 of the Austin-built S.E.5as were assigned to the American Expeditionary Force with the 25th Aero Squadron getting its aircraft (mostly armed only with the fuselage-mounted Vickers gun) at the very end of the war.

The S.E.5b was a variant of the S.E.5 with a streamlined nose and wings of unequal span and chord. The single example, a converted S.E.5a first flew in early April 1918. It had a spinner on the propeller and a retractable underslung radiator. The S.E.5b was not a true sesquiplane - as the lower wing had two spars. Its performance was little better than the S.E.5a - the increased drag from the large upper wing seems to have cancelled out any benefit from the better streamlined nose. The S.E.5b was not considered for production, probably it was always intended mainly as a research aeroplane. In January 1919 it was tested with standard S.E.5a wings and in this form survived as a research aircraft into the early twenties.

The S.E.5 entered service with No. 56 Squadron RFC in March 1917, although the squadron did not deploy to the Western Front until the following month, among other reasons so that the very large and unpopular "greenhouse" windscreens could be replaced with small rectangular screens of conventional design. The squadron flew its first patrol with the S.E.5 on 22 April. While pilots, some of whom were initially disappointed with the S.E.5, quickly came to appreciate its strength and fine flying qualities, it was universally held to be under-powered and the more powerful S.E.5a began to replace the S.E.5 in June. At this time 56 Squadron was still the only unit flying the new fighter; in fact it was the only operational unit to use the initial 150 hp S.E.5 – all other S.E.5 squadrons used the 200 hp S.E.5a from the outset.

In spite of the very slow build up of new S.E.5a squadrons due to a shortage of the type that lasted well into 1918, by the end of the war the type equipped 21 British Empire squadrons as well as two U.S. squadrons. Many of the top Allied aces flew this fighter including Billy Bishop, Cecil Lewis, Edward Mannock and James McCudden. Legendary British ace Albert Ball was initially disparaging of the S.E.5 but in the end claimed 17 of his 44 victories flying it. McCudden wrote of the S.E.5 "It was very fine to be in a machine that was faster than the Huns, and to know that one could run away just as things got too hot."

“When Lismer arrived, he found that the School was ... decrepit, housed on the top two floors of a drafty, wooden building, on the corner of Prince and Argyle Streets, with an enrolment of about twelve students. ... More disconcerting than the poor facilities and low enrollment, however, was the attitude of the School’s Directors and community apathy regarding art matters in general. Lismer wrote to Eric Brown, the young director of the National Gallery: ‘The school has been allowed to fall into disuse mainly on account of the lack of interest of its directors who regard art as an exclusive & cultured subject for the edification of the few - & the fewer the students the greater their pride in their connection with it, & its
exclusiveness.’ (Lismer to Brown, 28 January 1917, file copy in the National Gallery of Canada).

Geoffrey Saxton White VC (2 July 1886-28 January 1918) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He was 31 years old, and a lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Navy during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 28 January 1918 in the Dardanelles, Turkey, Lieutenant-Commander White, commanding British submarine E.14 was under instructions to find the German battlecruiser Goeben, which was reported to be aground. She was not found, however, and E.14 turned back. Then came the following sequence of events, for which White was posthumously awarded the VC on 24 May 1915:

Admiralty, S.W., 24th May, 1919.
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross to the undermentioned Officers : —

Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Saxton White, R.N.

For most conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty as Commanding Officer of H.M. Submarine "E 14" on the 28th of January, 1918.

"E 14" left Mudros on the 27th of January under instructions to force the Narrows and attack the "Goeben," which was reported aground off Nagara Point after being damaged during her sortie from the Dardanelles. The latter vessel was not found and "E 14" turned back. At about 8.45 a.m. on the 28th of January a torpedo was fired from "E 14" at an enemy ship; 11 seconds after the torpedo left the tube a heavy explosion took place, caused all lights to go out, and sprang the fore hatch. Leaking badly the boat was blown to 15 feet, and at once a heavy fire came from the forts, but the hull was not hit. "E 14" then dived and proceeded on her way out.

Soon afterwards the boat became out of control, and as the air supply was nearly exhausted, Lieutenant-Commander White decided to run the risk of proceeding on the surface. Heavy fire was immediately opened from both sides, and, after running the gauntlet for half-an-hour, being steered from below, "E 14" was so badly damaged that Lieutenant-Commander White turned towards the shore in order to give the crew a chance of being saved. He remained on deck the whole time himself until he was killed bv a shell.

White's body was not recovered at the time, and he has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Now as the Senate, which has been met with the righteous hatred of the people, has fallen, we have today decided to propose to workers of Finland that the Delegation of People's Commissars along with the Workers' General Council controlling it, should be appointed to run the country as the revolutionary government, up to when the toiling people of Finland will decide otherwise.

The revolutionary government has to be a social democratic one. The final nomination of its member should be left under the authority of Workers' General Council. Up to the later convening of this General Council we urge workers to adopt forming the Delegation of People's Commissars of Finland with the following comrades as its members:

As chairman
newspaper editor Kullervo Manner;
as Commissar for Foreign Affairs
newspaper editor Yrjö Sirola;
as Commissar for the Interior
secretary of the Sawmill Workers Union of Finland Eero Haapalainen and filer Adolf Taimi;
as Commissar for the Justice
newspaper editor Lauri Letonmäki and carpenter Antti Kiviranta;
as Commissar for Education
newspaper editor Otto Vilhelm Kuusinen;
as Commissar for Finance
newspaper editor Jalo Kohonen;
as Labour Commissar
President of the League of Finnish Trade Unions Johan Henrik Lumivuokko;
as Commissar for the Agriculture
newspaper editor Evert Eloranta;
as Commissar for Food Provision Affairs
President of the League of Finnish Trade Unions Oskari Tokoi;
as Commissar for Transportation
engine driver Konstantin Lindqvist;
as Commissar for Postal and Communication Affairs
newspaper editor Emil Elo;
as Procurator
party secretary Matti Turkia.

We suggest that the Workers' General Council, consisting of 35 members, would be assembled as follows:
1) The council of the social democratic party should elect 10 members to it.
2) The acting committee of the League of Finnish Trade Unions together with its member union committees should also elect 10 members;
3) The Red Guards of Finnish workers should also be represented by 10 persons who temporarily, until convening of the general meeting of the guards' representatives, will be elected by Helsinki Red Guard in its general meeting; and
4) The number of representatives of the Delegation of Workers' Unions in Helsinki will be 5.

The Poppy from the NZ perspective.
Dr Stephen Clarke, Historian Royal NZ Returned & Services' Association.

The story of how the Poppy became an international symbol of remembrance and also a New Zealand icon is a remarkable one.
The association of the red poppy — the Flanders Poppy — with battlefield deaths as a natural symbol of resurrection and remembrance derives from the fact that the poppy was the first plant to grow in the churned up soil of soldiers' graves in the area of Flanders during the First World War.

It was verses by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian Medical Officer, which began the intriguing process by which the Flanders Poppy became immortalised worldwide as the symbol of remembrance:

The inspiration for the verses had been the death of a fellow officer, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, 1st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery, on 2 May 1915, during the Second Battle of Ypres (Ieper) in western Belgium, for whom McCrae had performed the burial service. McCrae's verses, which he had scribbled in pencil on a page torn from his despatch book, were sent anonymously by a fellow officer to the English magazine, Punch, and published under the title “In Flanders Fields” on 8 December 1915. Three years later, McCrae himself died of pneumonia at Wimereux near Boulogne, France, on 28 January 1918. On his deathbed, McCrae reportedly lay down the challenge: Tell them this, if ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep.

Among the many people moved by McCrae's poem a YMCA canteen worker in New York, Miss Moina Michael (1869-1944), who, two days before the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918, wrote a reply entitled “We Shall Keep the Faith”. Moina Michael hereafter tirelessly campaigned to get the poppy adopted as a national symbol of remembrance in the United States. In September 1920 the American Legion adopted the Poppy at its annual Convention. Attending that Convention was a French woman who was about to promote the poppy — as a symbol of remembrance — throughout the world.

Madame E. Guérin, conceived the idea of widows manufacturing artificial poppies in the devastated areas of Northern France which then could be sold by veterans' organisations worldwide for their own veterans and dependants as well as the benefit of destitute French children. Throughout 1920-21, Guérin and her representatives approached veteran organisations' in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and urged them to adopt the poppy as a symbol of remembrance. It was as a result of the efforts of Michael and Guérin — both of whom became known endearingly as the "Poppy Lady" — that the poppy became an international symbol of remembrance.

One of Guérin's representatives, Colonel Alfred Moffatt, came to put the poppy initiative to the New Zealand Returned Solders' Association (as the RNZRSA was originally known) in September 1921 and an order for some 350,000 small and 16,000 large silk poppies was duly placed with Madame Guérin's French Children's League.

In common with veteran organisations in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, the RSA had intended to hold its inaugural Poppy Appeal in association with Armistice Day 1921 (11 November 1921). However, the ship carrying the poppies from France arrived in New Zealand too late for the scheme to be properly publicized prior to Armistice Day, thereby forcing the RSA to postpone its Poppy campaign until the day prior to ANZAC Day 1922. Thus Poppy Day, as it was immediately known, became uniquely associated with ANZAC Day, whereas in Australia, as with the United Kingdom and Canada, the appeal continued to be associated with Armistice Day.

The first Poppy Day in New Zealand, 24 April 1922, was met with great public enthusiasm, with many centres selling out of their supply of poppies early in the day. The NZRSA declared the inaugural Poppy Day a "brilliant success". In all, 245,059 small poppies were sold for 1 shilling each and 15,157 larger versions of the flower attracted two shillings each, netting the national association, after all expenses, £13,166. Of that sum, £3,695 was sent to French Children's League to help alleviate distress in the war-ravaged areas of Northern France. The remainder was used by the RSA to assist unemployed returned soldiers in need, and their families, during the winter of 1922. So began a tradition of the Poppy Day Appeal as the RSA's primary means of raising funds for the welfare of returned service personnel and their dependants.

In 1931 the NZRSA began producing its own poppies, made by disabled returned men at Auckland and Christchurch RSA. By the end of the 1930s, Christchurch RSA was even making an oversized Poppy for motor vehicles. Christchurch RSA is still responsible for the manufacture of poppies in New Zealand.

During the Second World War patriotism and public interest to remember the recent war dead resulted in record-breaking collections on Poppy Day. By 1945, 750,000 poppies were being distributed nationwide, which equates to half the population wearing the familiar red symbol of remembrance. So important was the Appeal deemed that the Government expressed no qualms about granting the necessary wartime permit for the imported British cloth. Poppy Day was set to serve the welfare needs of another generation of returned service personnel and their dependants in the postwar period.

After over 80 years, few appeals can claim the history and public recognition as that of the RSA's Poppy Day Appeal. In fact, as much as the RSA Badge, the Poppy is the recognizable symbol of the RSA and its endeavours to care for war veterans as well as remember those who never returned.

The Poppy is not only visible on Poppy Day and ANZAC Day, and other commemorative occasions, but at funerals of returned servicemen and women. It is also taken on pilgrimages to be laid at New Zealand war memorials and war graves around the world. The RSA Poppy is truly a national icon.

National War Labor Board, World War I (NWLB) was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson on 8 April 1918 to adjudicate labor disputes. Its members had already served in Washington, D.C., on the War Labor Conference Board, convened on 28 January 1918 by the secretary of labor to devise a national labor program. They included five labor representatives from the American Federation of Labor, five employer representatives from the National Industrial Conference Board, and two public representatives, the labor lawyer Frank P. Walsh and former Republican president William Howard Taft, who acted as cochairs.

Until its demise on 31 May 1919, the board ruled on 1,245 cases. Almost 90 percent of them sprang from worker complaints, and five skilled trades accounted for 45 percent. Of the cases, 591 were dismissed, 315 were referred to other federal labor agencies, and 520 resulted in formal awards or findings. In reaching their decisions the board was aided by an office and investigative staff of 250 people. Approximately 700,000 workers in 1,000 establishments were directly affected.

In their book "Shot at Dawn", Julian Putkowski and Julian Sykes speculate that George was possibly conscripted into the Army. Certainly there is a record that shows that George had been tried on 28 January 1918 for incurring a self inflicted wound. By the end of July he had deserted no less than three times. His commanding officer submitted a written statement to the Field Court Martial which stated that “Private Ainley appears to be lacking a sense of responsibility and his military character in consequence is not good” He was shot on 30th July 1918.

Paul Kellogg, letter to Newton Baker about the list of subversives leaked by Archibald Stevenson of Military Intelligence (28th January, 1919)

In the name of common sense, fairplay and decent regard to the public service to our common country off some of the truest, most farseeing and courageous citizens of our generation has produced. Let me urge you to repudiate that indiscriminate, brutally unjust, fool-in-the-head list of Americans put under the ban by Military Intelligence.

Once hostilities ended, most surviving volunteers returned home to be with their families and friends. Many, like Frederick Freida, resumed their pre-war activities; others, like Robert Michelin, suffered injuries that interfered with their traditional ways of life. Occasionally, aboriginal troops were delayed in their return home because of the remoteness of their villages. This was the case with Michelin, who arrived at St. John’s in the fall, when there were no more steamers to Labrador until the following spring.

Returning soldiers often discovered their families and neighbours had not heard anything about the war for weeks, or even months, because of poor communication with St. John’s and other urban centres. Some residents at North West River, for example, did not know the war was over until returning veterans arrived there on 28 January 1919 – more than two months after the 11 November Armistice.

In the minutes of the County War Agricultural Committee which took place on 28 January 1919 item 17 records: “German Prisoners and the Agricultural College – The following resolution was adopted:- That in view of the demand for training in Agriculture and allied subjects, this Committee is strongly of the opinion that the Midland Agricultural College building now occupied by German officer prisoners, should be immediately evacuated, and that suitable courses of training should be arranged as quickly as possible.”

Formed at Wye on 1 September 1917, it was intended to be equipped with Dolphins for service on the Western Front, but the need to reinforce existing units led to its disbandment on 4 July 1918. It was again planned to form with Dolphins on 21 October 1918 for deployment on 28 November but it was then brought forward to 28 September at Brockworth, but was then postponed. Formation was then scheduled for 30 October, again at Brockworth, but with Salamanders in the ground attack role. These plans were then amended again, with formation on Salamanders at Bircham Newton on 14 November 1918 with a move to France planned for 28 January 1919, however, the Armistice ended all such plans and the formation was suspended.

The Colours, historically and symbolically, represent the heart and spirit of the Regiment. On the Regimental Colour are carried the battle honours of the Regiment, which recall past deeds and services. The Colours, emblazoned with distinctions for gallant service create a feeling of pride and loyalty in the soldier and most certainly in the hearts of all Patricia's.

The Original Colour, The Ric-a-Dam-Doo (gaelic for "cloth of thy mother"), was hand-made by Princess Patricia and presented to the Regiment on the 23rd of August 1914. As it was a camp colour, the Regiment throughout the First World War carried it in action. On 28 January 1919, it was formally consecrated and became the Regimental Colour.

Diary of Vasily Mishnin, Russian soldier, on the Eastern Front, north of Warsaw.

28 January 1915: Time drags in the trenches. We lie pressed against each other like pigs. Dirty, soiled, unwashed, we stink like old men. There is nowhere to have a shave or a haircut. I hang my black watch on the wall and we sit staring at it.

In the face of the alleged breakdown of the International principle in European Socialism, this is undeniably the question of the day for all Socialists: in how far can a Socialist consistently by word or deed proclaim himself a patriot? That all Socialists “are not in principle anti-nationalists” is undoubtedly true, but this does not alter the fact that it may be the duty of the Socialist on occasion in practice to assume an anti-patriotic, anti-nationalist, attitude.

Where a nation is actually resisting an invasion of its territory, then every sane Socialist admits the justification, and, ever more, of its action. Where it is waging an aggressive war in another people’s territory, no consistent Socialist subject or citizen of that nation can be other than anti-patriotic and anti-national in the sense of wishing to see his country meet with the defeat it deserves.

If the principle of Internationalism in Socialism has any meaning at all, it implies this. And yet how many Socialists squirm at the above very natural application of the principle.

I remember hearing a Socialist comrade reprove the late Mr. Stead (not a man, by the way, who otherwise has my strong sympathies) for exhibiting signs of rejoicing over the victory of the Boers at Magersfontein, while he himself, though acknowledging the justice of the Boers cause in defending their territory when invaded, maintained an attitude of decorous subdued grief at the failure of “his country’s” arms,

Now, do let us consider for the moment the logic of this position. My friend admitted his country was doing wrong, and yet he wept, or thought he ought to weep, because his country was unsuccessful in the wrongdoing. On like principles, if my friend had had, let us say, a relative embarked on the Bill Sykes professional career, who had found the inmates of a house where he was operating in a position to “frustrate his knavish tricks” by an ignominious expulsion at the point of the boot, I suppose respect for family sentiment would exact that – while duly regretting that his relation had chosen the particular avocation in question – he should nevertheless exhibit a seemly sorrow at the failure of his enterprise.

Happily there are Socialists, Democrats and even Radicals in sufficient number who have enough regard for international morality to scorn such doctrine as that expressed by my friend.

One of my proudest recollections is the keen sense of moral delight with which I, in conjunction with most of my pro-Boer comrades, greeted without concealment the news of Magersfontein, Colenso, and Spionkop. In this we were, I maintain, true to Socialist principle.

Now Germany (i.e., the Prusso-German governing class) to-day is undoubtedly as much in the wrong in waging the present infamous war of wanton aggression in Europe as was Great Britain in that of South Africa fifteen years ago. And again we see the poison of patriotism working, this time in the German Social-Democratic Party – let us hope mainly among the Parliamentary leaders. Again we see the patriotic venom of “my country right or wrong” destroying all moral sense, not to speak of Socialist principle. We all admit the right of self-defence to the modern nation-State, and we admit the heroism and self-sacrifice that this conventional patriotism has and is calling forth in the present war.

We so-called anti-patriots only regret that all this heroism and devotion at the service of the modern nation-State – even when that nation-State is fighting in a just cause, as we believe the Allies to be doing to-day – is not forthcoming when it is a question of fighting, not for the political independence of one nation, but for a new society for all nations – for the Socialist Commonwealth.

Would the time might come when an idea principle shall inspire men as much as nationality can do now! What we need is, indeed, what is sometimes termed “a transvaluation of values.” We need the conviction that a just social State is of more value even than an independent national State. Socialism, it is said, is international in principle, but not necessarily anti-national. This may be true enough. But do not let us forget that the Internationalism of Socialism must inevitably be in proportion as it is realised in the Socialist Commonwealth, tend to sap the importance of the nation-State, and thereby to atrophy the sentiment of patriotism.

There was a time when districts of England – Mercia, Wessex, Strathclyde, East Anglia – were as separate political entities as England, France and Germany to-day. Now the distinction between these districts as represented by the counties at present embodying them is at most kept in remembrance by annual dinners, or similar celebrations, in which, Yorkshiremen, Cornishmen, Northumbrians, etc., respectively toast their own county virtues.

We would fain hope, and we not merely hope, but confidently believe, that as with the distinctions within existing nation-States at present, so in the future it will be with these nation-States themselves – the dividing lines between them will cease to indicate antagonisms, and, at most, be represented by merely trivial and formal rivalries.

The cause of the working classes is lost if they allow themselves to be caught again permanently in the meshes of the net of patriotism, with all the vicious and false sentiment clinging to it, and liable to be evoked in a virulent form on the slightest occasion at the will of the dominant classes.

But what can we do to help matters? I answer, one way is to strive for “devolution,” to work always towards the transference of the legislative and executive functions of the existing nation-State to local areas within that State. You will thus peacefully sap the sentiment of national exclusiveness or, as it is termed, of “national unity.” Such sentiment will then, at most, only be evoked by an actual violation of the national territory by a hostile State. Other causes of quarrel will leave it cold. Distant enterprises on behalf of capitalistic exploiters will not easily find a “patriotic” echo when men are primarily concerned with the direction of the affairs of a limited home-area, independent for practical purposes.

But this is not enough. We need a popular education, not merely in Socialist economics, but in Socialist ethics, on which the doctrine of Internationalism is founded. We need a popular education in the placing of cause before country, of principle before patriotism. The sentiment of “My country right or wrong” which inspired my honest friend with a subdued tearfulness on the news or a defeat of British brigandage in the Transvaal, will, with a generation so educated, be seen for the abomination that it is. The moral conviction now confined to the logically-consistent Socialist, that it is immoral, that it is shameful, not to rejoice at the defeat of “one’s country” in wrong-doing, will then become general. Meanwhile, the barriers of the modern nation-State bar the way to true international morality.

The German Social-Democratic Reichstag leaders know well enough that “their country” is committing a wicked crime in this war, and yet, like my friend in the Boer War, they do not rejoice at the prospect of their country’s discomfiture. Once more, I repeat, the unity of the nation-State bars the way to Internationalism.

The Council of People's Commissars decided to form the Red Army on 28 January 1918. Their conception was that it should be "formed from the class-conscious and best elements of the working classes". All citizens of the Russian republic over the age of 18 were eligible. Its specific role was the defense "of the achievements of the October Revolution, the Soviet Power and Socialism. Enlistment was conditional upon "guarantees being given by a military or civil committee functioning within the territory of the Soviet Power" or by Party or Trade Union committees or, in extreme cases, by two persons belonging to one of the above organizations." In the event of an entire unit wanting to join the Red Army, a "collective guarantee and the affirmative vote of all its members" would be necessary.

The Council of People's Commissars appointed itself the supreme head of the Red Army, delegating immediate command and administration of the Army to the Commissariat for Military Affairs and the Special All-Russian College within this commissariat. Nikolai Krylenko was the Supreme Commander in Chief, with Aleksandr Myasnikyan as deputy. Pavel Dybenko and Nikolai Podvoisky were the Commissars for War and the Fleet. Proshyan, Samoisky, Steinberg were also specified as People's Commissars with Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich from the Bureau of Commissars.

Finnish War of Independence and the Civil War from January till May 1918

The Parliament, exercising supreme power in Finland, ratified the declaration of independence and sovereignity in December. The government of Finland, i.e. the Senate, backed by Parliament began to take steps to disarm and expel the troops of the former motherland, Russia, from the country in order to secure independence and freedom of action. The Russian government, on their side, declared war against the "antirevolutionary" troops of the Finnish government. This is how the War of Independence broke out on the 28th of January, 1918.
The representatives of the workers’ movement, who had remained a minority in Parliament and were frustrated by their inconsiderable parliamentary influence, organized a revolution on the 27th of January, 1918, following the example of the Russian revolution in October. They managed, supported by Russian troops, to occupy the southern part of the country. This ignited the Civil War. The power of the Senate was concentrated in Vaasa and that of the People’s Delegation, established by the revolutionaries, in Helsinki. Owing to the war, the parliament was inoperative.

1/28/1918 - The German General Hans Friedrich von Seeckt, at the time Chief of Staff of the Turkish Army, is instructed to prevent Turkish atrocities against the Armenians of the Caucasus, since the Russian armies had fallen apart in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and the Turks were advancing almost unopposed.

On 28 and 29 January 1918 the I, II, IV & XVI Reparti d'assalto participated in the Battle of the Three Mountains (Monte Valbella, Col del Roso & Col d'Echele) on the Asiago Plateau. The attack was coordinated with three infantry brigades, 5 Alpini battalions and 3 Bersaglieri regiments and the Reparti d'assalto experienced considerable difficulty coordinating their movements with the other, slower units. In some cases, positions won by the Reparti d'assalto had to be abandoned in the face of strong Austrian-Hungarian counter attacks; a problem that would plague the Reparti d'assalto throughout the war. In the end, however, all three mountains were taken and held against Austrian-Hungarian counterattacks.

Sent to Yeoman 1st Class (F) Omah Margaret Munier on 14 February 1919, informing her of the results of the Yeoman (Female) advancement examinations held on 28 January 1919 and of her advancement in rate as of 1 February 1919. She was serving at the Receiving Ship, Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, from 4 May 1918 to 10 August 1919.